A caregiving organization that provides care to a user within a caregiving environment may need to monitor the user for wellbeing, health, and/or for the safety of the user in case of an incident. For example, a user who is impaired may be unable get up if they fall down, or may be unable to escape a house if the house catches on fire. Similarly, the user may suffer from intermittent memory loss that may be correlated with an increase risk of incident. It may be difficult for the caregiving organization (e.g., a hospital, a hospice care, a in-home healthcare organization), a caregiver (e.g., a hospice worker, a nurse, a family member) providing care to determine how the user is doing and/or a current risk level of the user, including but not limited to in a home care environment. If the user is subject to an incident or begins to undergo a temporary or permanent mental change, the user may have difficulty getting to a communication device (e.g., a phone, a mobile device, a computer, a panic button on a necklace that dials 9-1-1) to contact the caregiver or an emergency service. The caregiver and/or the caregiving organization may therefore have little insight in the user's daily state. As a result, the user may be at increased risk of injury or even death.
At the same time, a voice controlled automated assistance service such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Siri may provide a general assistance that may be useful to any user, but may be especially helpful for persons who are impaired, elderly, under treatment in a medical facility, or undergoing home care. For example, the user may more easily interface with technology by using their voice which may be a natural way of communicating for the user. Such services may continue to become increasingly human-like in their responses and interactions. The user may therefore be comforted by voice communications or find companionship with the automated voice assistance service. For example, the user may be able to search the web, order a product from an online retailer, and control household connected devices such as a smart bulb or a connected television. They may therefore by encouraged to interact frequently, provided candid or honest information, and engage with and confide in the automated assistance service.
However, utilizing voice controlled automated assistances services may present some difficulties for a user. Assistance applications of the automated assistance service may have a complicated set of voice inputs or commands that the user may have difficulty remembering or pronouncing. The automated assistance service may have a limited means of customization, including but not limited to voice commands that may invoke assistance applications and initiate assistance actions such as ordering delivery services. Some of these difficulties may be amplified in impaired persons, medical patients and/or the elderly. In addition, the user (and/or the caregiver) may misunderstand a capability of the automated assistance service as it relates to safety of the user. For example, the automated assistance service may be unable to distinguish when a user is in peril versus trying to utilize a general service. The automated assistance service may have no programming to support an emergency response to the incident or call for help by the user.
As a result of these challenges, the caregiving organization and/or the caregiver may not know the user is at increased risk for an incident or that the user is in immediate danger. The user may continue to be subject to a high risk of injury, immediate risk of injury, and/or even risk of death, including as a result of misunderstanding the capabilities of the voice controlled automated assistance service. Other devices meant to aid the user if an incident occurs may be unavailable, require physical possession, and/or be unusable during an emergency due to the user's infrequent use of such devices.